


Supplemental

by Medie



Category: Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robot, Artificial Intelligence, Gen, Living Ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-13
Updated: 2010-04-13
Packaged: 2017-10-08 22:17:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/80056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Medie/pseuds/Medie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His ship, it seemed, was pissed at him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Supplemental

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/angelsgracie/profile)[**angelsgracie**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/angelsgracie/) for reading this over for me and thanks to [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/azarsuerte/profile)[**azarsuerte**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/azarsuerte/) for the name of Enterprise's android avatar.

"Enterprise -- "

Walking into his quarters, Jim directed his gaze at the face on the monitor, a face as familiar to him as his own, but the monitor blinked to black before he could finish. His ship, it seemed, was pissed at him. It wasn't that he didn't understand her feelings on the matter, he did, she'd been the heart and soul of the USS Enterprise longer than anyone in Starfleet had been alive. Every other Command and Control AI in Starfleet was a shadow of her. She deserved some goddamn respect and Starfleet knew that.

He sighed, hands on hips, and reflexively looked at the ceiling. "I know you're upset."

The lights went.

"Upset?" her voice, chilly and clipped in a way she never was with him, filled the darkness around him.

Jim bit back another sigh. "All right, I know you're furious, Enterprise, but this is not the way to express it."

That got stony silence as an answer.

"Enterprise, you're being ridiculous. You know I don't like this, but there's not a damn thing I can do about it. Starfleet won't listen to reason and we can't disobey orders."

The door swished open. Terry. Had to be. She moved closer, boots a light step on the floor, and not for the first time, Jim appreciated the irony that he had Harry Mudd's idiocy to thank for her 'birth'.

The man's attempt at escaping his android captors had certainly been to Starfleet's benefit.

"I suppose you agree with her," he said without turning.

"Yes." Terry reached his side and the door slid shut. The lights of the corridor went with it.

Jim muttered an oath. There were some days he did wonder if Harry wasn't having the last laugh after all. "This isn't funny you two."

"It isn't meant to be," Terry replied.

"You're not helping," he said. "Ladies, I refuse to have this conversation in the dark. Enterprise, I'm ordering you to turn on the lights this instant."

"Captain -- " Terry sighed.

He turned toward her, reaching out in the dark to lay hands on her shoulders. At least, he hoped that was her shoulders. "_Terry_."

She said nothing until the lights flicked on around them. "This is a mistake, Captain. The M5 test."

"I know it is," he said. "Believe me, Terry, Spock and I have been telling Fleet that for days. Daystrom's political connections go farther than ours." About the only option they had left to them was pulling Spock's parents into it. "Like it or not, tomorrow morning, Daystrom will supervise the removal of the Enterprise AI from the system to allow the M5 computer to take her place."

The whole thing was ridiculous if anyone asked Jim. Not that he'd waited. He'd been telling anyone at Headquarters who might listen. Starfleet already had an effective AI system in place. It was all so much bunk about better mousetraps in his opinion.

Terry sat on the edge of his bed, looking frustrated. "I just don't see the point. There's no way a computer of that nature can replace an AI." She shook her head. "We are meant as a supplementary tool, not -- We're not replacements. It won't work." The Enterprise knew better than anyone the successes the program was capable of. She'd been implanted into the original NX-01 systems and every successive Enterprise since. She'd seen every captain from Archer right on down to Jim.

He might've been the first to have a physical avatar, and was more than a little smug about it, but the partnership between the Enterprise and her captain was as old as Starfleet.

"I know." He sat next to her. "Believe me, I know."

"They didn't even _ask_," Enterprise said from his desk monitor.

Jim stood and moved to make eye contact with the two-dimensional face of his ship. "Welcome back," he said, smiling. "Am I forgiven?"

She frowned. "I've taken it under consideration. I -- " she shook her head. "I've never been removed like this before. It's -- "

"Like an amputation," Terry finished. She was on her feet as well, looking at Jim. "It's terrifying. We've never been _replaced_."

Jim rubbed his forehead and then nodded. "I know." He laid a hand on her arm again, wishing he could do the same for Enterprise. "It won't be permanent. I won't let them do that to you." He didn't know how he could stop them, but he'd be damned before he'd see them thrown out like so much space junk.

Terry laid a hand over his with a tiny smile. "We know. We're just scared."

"You're not the only one," he said. "Spock's working on some kind of end-run. A back door into the system. If something goes wrong, I want you to be able to seize control again. He'll come up with something."

"No doubt," Enterprise affirmed. Sometimes, the shameless crush his ship had on his exec worried him. At the moment, though, he shared her sentiments and wasn't in any hurry to argue.

"Most days," Terry said, "I find the Human inability to leave well enough alone to be endearing."

"This wouldn't be one of them," Enterprise added.

Jim looked at them both. "Progress, ladies, can't fight it."

Terry rolled her eyes. "_Progress_. Organics. As long as I live, I don't think I'll ever understand you. What's the point of progress if it takes all the fun out of life?"

"Terry, you ever answer that one, I think I'll marry you," Jim said, grinning.

"You can't." Terry's own grin was downright cheeky. "Federation law doesn't allow for organic/android marriage."

"Well, we'll make that our next project," Jim said.

She didn't answer, her gaze unfocused in the fashion that suggested her attention had been drawn elsewhere. It put him on his alert as he waited for her to report back. It didn't take long.

"Spock needs me in Engineering," she said. "He's got an idea." She smoothed her uniform into place then breathed deep. Purely reflexive, but he understood the sentiment. "Fingers crossed?"

Jim offered her an arm. "And eyes and toes."


End file.
